PERTH

PERTH de­tec­tives are in­ves­ti­gat­ing steal­ing of­fences at ceme­ter­ies across the metropoli­tan area in the past four months. The of­fences in­volved ve­hi­cles parked in­side the ceme­tery or nearby car parks while the vic­tims were vis­it­ing graves or at­tend­ing fu­ner­als. Since Jan­uary this year steal­ing of­fences have been re­ported at four ceme­ter­ies, in­clud­ing 46 at Kar­rakatta Ceme­tery, 15 at Fre­man­tle Ceme­tery, four at Guild­ford Ceme­tery and five at Pin­na­roo Ceme­tery. The most re­cent of­fence oc­curred on May 7 when a 71-yearold woman parked her car at Kar­rakatta and she walked to her mother’s grave. The vic­tim’s car was stolen while she was just about five me­tres away from her ve­hi­cle. The car was then driven to Guild­ford Ceme­tery, where the thieves com­mit­ted more steal­ing of­fences.